...OR HOW TO BECOME MASTER OF YOUR ONLINE DOMAIN. VERSION 1.0
A Ad Audience: The number of people exposed to an ad within a specified time period. Ad Click: A measurement of how people interact with a banner ad. Each type of click interaction click-thru, in-unit and mouseover creates a redirect to another web location or another frame within the ad. Ad Impression: An ad that is served to a person s browser. They can be requested by a browser (referred to as pulled ads) or pushed, such as e-mailed ads. Ad Network: An aggregator or broker of advertising for many sites. Ad networks are the sales representatives for the web sites within the network. The Google network, for example, represents over a thousand web sites. Ad Serving: The delivery of ads by a server to an end user s computer. It s normally performed by either a web publisher or a third-party ad server. DoubleClick, Eyewonder, and Eyeblaster are all ad servers. 3
How NOT to use: Boy, that ad really made an impression on me!
Animated GIF: An animated image that is created by combining multiple GIF images (Graphics Interchange Format a bitmap image format) into a single file. ASIA: Another Silly Incomprehensible Acronym. See html, xml, ssl, ajax, url, asp, CPU, GUI, gif, jpg, pdf, rdf, rfid, QR, usb, VoIP, php and so on. Avatar: A graphic representation of an individual in a game or digital environment. B BadBoy: A floating ad offered by online ad technology vendor PointRoll. See floating ad. Banner: A graphic advertising image displayed on a web page. Banners can be static images, animated GIFs, or Flash objects. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) features banner size information on their site, www.iab.net. 5
Behavioral Targeting: A technique used by online publishers and advertisers to increase the effectiveness of a campaign. It uses information collected from individuals, such as pages visited or searches made, to select what ads are served to them. The idea is to serve the right message to the right person. Blog: A simple way for people to publish their thoughts, commentary or news. Blogs are usually online personal journals, but they can also be focused on passion areas like art, celebrities, technology, etc. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Bookmark: Stored web page locations (URLs) that can be retrieved. A feature of all modern Internet web browsers, their primary purpose is to easily catalog and access web pages that a user has visited and saved. With the advent of social bookmarking, shared bookmarks have become a means for users sharing similar interests to pool web resources, or to store their bookmarks so they are not tied to one specific computer or browser. Web-based bookmarking services let users save bookmarks on a remote web server, accessible from anywhere. Broadband Video Commercials: Video content, similar to a TV commercial, that is shown online. Typically, this content is shown before, during, or after streaming video content. 6
Browser: An application used to view web sites. The major browsers are Windows Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Google Chrome, and Opera. Also known as a web browser. C Chat: Interactive communication between two or more people online. Chats are typically text-based, but voice and video chats are also available. Chat Room: An online area where people communicate with others in real time. Consumer Generated Media (CGM): Originally a reference to posts made by consumers within online venues, such as social media web sites, Internet forums, blogs, wikis, discussion lists, etc., on products they have purchased, questions they have or problems they are trying to solve. The idea has since evolved from its early roots of consumer feedback via online letters and e-mail to encompass new media, such as video, photos and social networking sites, as well as consumer-fortified media to describe the use of programs such as Digg, del.icio.us and StumbleUpon. 7
Also known as consumer-generated content (CGC) or consumer-created media (CCM). Contextual Ads: A form of targeted advertising appearing on web sites or other media, such as content displayed in mobile browsers. The ads themselves are selected and served by automated systems based on the content displayed to the user. Cookie: A file that is stored in a person s browser used to identify that particular person. Cookies usually store information like user preferences, shopping cart contents and other web site information. Most browsers let users decide whether to accept cookies and how long to keep them. CPC (Cost Per Click): The cost of advertising based on the number of clicks received. CPI (Cost Per Interaction): Cost of advertising based on a user taking some specifically defined action in response to a Rich Media (e.g. PointRoll ) ad. Interactions include such things as rolling over an ad and expanding different panels within an ad. CPL (Cost Per Lead): Cost of advertising based on the number of database files (or leads) received. 8
How NOT to use: I need my 3pm cookie fix.
CTR (Click-thru Rate): Ratio of ad clicks to ad impressions. The industry average CTR is currently much less than 1% for a standard banner. D Display Advertising: A form of online advertising where an advertiser s message is shown on a destination web page, generally set off in a box at the top, bottom, or to one side of the content on the page. Also known as banner advertising. Domain Name: The name that identifies a web site, usually ending with.com for commercial web sites. Other common designators like.net (network),.org (non-commercial),.edu (educational) and.gov (governmental) are all considered generic domains. There are also geographic domains like.us (United States),.uk (United Kingdom),.ca (Canada), etc. to designate countries of origin. Dynamic Rotation: Delivery of ads on a rotating, random basis so that users are exposed to different ads and ads are served on different pages of the site. 10
E E-mail Advertising: Banner ads, links or advertiser sponsorships that appear in e-mail newsletters, e-mail marketing campaigns and other commercial e-mail communications. It can be used with e-mails that are either plain text or HTML- based. E-mail Bounce: An e-mail that cannot be delivered due to a permanent reason, like a non-existent address, or a temporary reason, like a full inbox or an unavailable ISP server. ETV (Enhanced Television): A type of interactive television technology that allows content producers to send data and graphic enhancements. These enhancements appear as overlays on the video and allow viewers to click on them if they are watching TV via a special set-top box or software service. Expandable Banner: A banner ad that expands to 2-3 times its original size when a person interacts with it, either through a click or a mouseover. Expandable banners allow advertisers to bring an engaging experience to a user without requiring them to leave the site on which the original ad was served. 11
F FatBoy: An expandable ad offered by online ad technology vendor PointRoll. See expandable ad. Flash: A popular multimedia platform that is commonly used to create animation, advertisements and various web page components. It s also used to integrate video into web pages and, more recently, to develop rich Internet applications. Floating Ad: An ad (or ads) that appears within the main browser window on top of the web page s normal content, thereby appearing to float over the top of the page. Often referred to as an Eyeblaster or BadBoy. Fold: The line below which a user has to scroll to see content not immediately visible when a web page loads in a browser. Monitor size and resolution determine where on the page the fold lies. 12
Frequency: The number of times an ad is delivered to the same browser in a single session or time period. A site can use cookies in order to manage ad frequency. G Geo-targeting: Displaying content based on automated or assumed knowledge of an end user s position in the real world. Geotargeting is relevant to both PC and mobile data services. GMOOT: What the brand manager tells the agency when the CMO demands an NST: Get Me One Of Those. I In-banner Video Ad: A video spot that takes up real estate within an online banner. These ads run on a typical HTML page without video content, unlike a pre-roll or broadband video commercial that runs prior to video content. 13
Instant Messaging (IM): A method of communicating in real time, either one-to-one or in groups, over the Internet. People use IM clients (like AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger, ichat, etc.) to communicate with their friends via Instant Message. Interstitial: An ad that appears in between two content pages. IWOOT: What the CMO says when she sees the NST: I Want One Of Those. See also GMOOT. K Keyword: Specific words entered into a search engine by the user that result in a list of web sites related to the keyword. Keywords can be purchased by advertisers to highlight their site or to serve an ad related to the user s search. 14
How NOT to use: Man, Tiger totally dominated the leaderboard today!
L Leaderboard: A wide, short, online ad unit. The IAB guidelines recommend two sizes of leaderboards: 468x60 and 728x90. M M-Commerce (Mobile Commerce): The ability to conduct transactions with a mobile device, such as a smart phone. Microblogging: Publishing very brief posts usually fewer than 140 characters to a public web site. Microsite: A web page or cluster of web pages that exist as a supplement to a primary web site. Microsites are intended to be temporary and deliver an editorial or commercial message. Commercial microsites will often be used to highlight new products or to support new advertising campaigns. 16
Midroll: A form of online video ad placement where the ad is played during a break in the middle of the video content. Mouseover: The process by which someone places his or her mouse over a media object without clicking. This interaction is often used to reveal additional content in an expandable banner. N Netiquette: The informal rules for conduct of online behavior. NST: New Shiny Thing. The lure of the NST is a common and quite frankly, fun distraction for us in the world of digital. I mean, who doesn t want to play with the latest app or gadget or social network? That said, the takeaway here is don t focus on the NST instead, look for the behavioral trends driving the innovation. 17
O Opt-in: Refers to an individual giving a company permission to use data collected from or about the individual for a particular reason, such as to market the company s products and services. Opt-in E-mail: Lists of Internet users who have voluntarily signed up to receive commercial e-mail about topics of interest. Opt-out: When a company states that it plans to market its products and services to an individual unless the individual asks to be removed from the company s mailing list. This strategy is not considered as polite as opt-in. P Pixel: A picture element (single illuminated dot) on a computer monitor. It is the unit of measure for banner ads. A leaderboard, for example, is 728 pixels wide by 90 pixels tall. 18
Podcast: A method of publishing audio or video files to the Internet allowing people to subscribe to a feed and receive new files automatically, usually at no cost. Video podcasts are sometimes referred to as Vodcasts. PointRoll : An advertising rich media provider that enables advertisers to maximize online marketing impact by expanding existing standard ad units, floating ads, streaming video in ads, etc. Pop-under Ad: An ad that appears in a separate window beneath an open window. Pop-under ads are concealed until the top window is closed, moved, resized or minimized. Pop-up Ad: An ad that appears in a separate window on top of content already on screen. Pop-up Transitional: Initiates play in a separate ad window during the transition between content pages. Portal: A web site that often serves as a starting point for a web user s session. It typically provides services such as search, directory of web sites, news, weather, e-mail, homepage space, stock quotes, sports and more. 19
Posting: An entry on a message board, blog or other online forum. Pre-roll: A form of online video ad placement where the ad is played before the content video. Privacy Policy: A statement about what information is being collected, how the information collected is being used, how an individual can access his or her own data collected, how the individual can opt-out and what security measures are being taken by the parties collecting the data. Profiling: The practice of tracking information about consumers interests by monitoring their movements online. This can be done without using any personal information, but simply by analyzing the content, URLs and other information about a user s browsing path or click-stream. Publisher: An individual or organization that prepares, issues and disseminates content for public distribution or sale via one or more media. 20
R Reach: The total number of unique visitors who will be served a given ad. Repeat Visitor: A unique visitor who has accessed a web site more than once over a specific time period. Return Visits: The average number of times a repeat visitor returns to a web site over a specific time period. Rich Media: A method of communication that incorporates animation, sound, video and/or interactivity. Rich media ads also have a much larger file size than a standard banner, which allows for a more compelling experience. The CTR is similar to a banner ad, but the average interaction rate is over 2% and interaction time is over 11 seconds. See expandable banner, floating ad, PointRoll. Roadblock: Two or more Internet ads of various sizes that combine to form a unit, which dominates the screen. 21
How NOT to use: Why don t we get the rich media to pay for everything?
RON (Run of Network): The scheduling of Internet advertising whereby a network positions ads across the site it represents at its own discretion, according to available inventory. ROS (Run of Site): The scheduling of Internet advertising where ads run across an entire site, often at a lower cost to the advertiser than the purchase of specific site sub-sections. RSS (Really Simple Syndication): A process for publishing content on the Internet that facilitates moving content into other environments. For example, top stories on a newspaper web site can be published as an RSS feed and pulled into a web portal site. RSS Readers are software programs or web sites that enable users to subscribe to one or more RSS feeds, delivering content and information from multiple sources into a single-user interface. S Search Advertising: Fees advertisers pay Internet companies to list and/or link their company site to a specific search word or phrase. Search categories include: 23
Paid Listings text links appear at the top or side of search results for specific keywords. The more a marketer pays, the higher the position it gets. Marketers only pay when a user clicks on the text link. Contextual Search text links appear in an article based on the context of the content, instead of a user-submitted keyword. Payment only occurs when the link is clicked. Paid Inclusion guarantees that a marketer s URL is indexed by a search engine. The listing is determined by the engine s search algorithms. Site Optimization modifies a site to make it easier for search engines to automatically index the site and, ideally, result in better placement within results. Search Engine: A program that helps web users find information on the Internet. The method for finding this information is usually done by maintaining an index of web resources that can be queried for the keyword or concepts entered by the user. Search Engine Marketing (SEM): A form of Internet marketing that promotes web sites by increasing their visibility in the search engine result pages. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via natural ( organic or algorithmic ) search results. 24
Skins: Customized and interchangeable sets of graphics which allow people to continually change the look of their desktops or browsers, without changing their settings or functionality. Skyscraper: A tall, narrow, online ad unit. The IAB guidelines recommend two sizes of skyscrapers: 120x600 and 160x600. SMS (Short Message Service): The standard for sending and receiving short (160 characters or less) text messages via mobile phones. Social Bookmarking: Aggregating, rating, describing and publishing bookmarks. These bookmarks are usually public and can be saved privately, shared only with specified people or groups, shared only inside certain networks, or another combination of public and private domains. The allowed people can usually view these bookmarks chronologically, by category or tags, or via a search engine. Social Marketing: A marketing tactic that taps into the growth of social networks, encouraging users to adopt and pass along widgets or other content modules created by a brand, or to add a brand to the user s social circle of friends. Social Networking Site: Web-based applications and services that tap social 25
relationships to create value. Popular social networking sites include MySpace, YouTube and Facebook. Sponsor: An advertiser that has a special relationship with a web site and supports a specific feature, such as a writer s column or a collection of articles on a particular subject. Sponsorship: Represents custom content and/or experiences created for an advertiser that may or may not include ad units. Sponsorships fall into several categories: Spotlights are custom-built pages incorporating an advertiser s brand and housing a collection of content usually around a theme. Advergaming can range from an advertiser buying all ad units around a game or a sponsored by link, to creating a custom-branded game experience. Content & Section Sponsorship is when an advertiser exclusively sponsors a particular section of the site or an e-mail re-skinned with the advertiser s branding. Sweepstakes & Contests can range from a branded sweepstakes on the site to a complete branded contest with submissions and judging. Streaming: An Internet data transfer technique that allows the user to see and hear audio and video files. The source compresses, then streams small packets of information to the user, who can then access the content as it is received. 26
Superstitals : An interstitial format developed by Unicast that is fully pre-cached before playing. Specs are 550x480, up to 100K file size and up to 20 seconds in length. T Tag: A keyword or descriptive term associated with an item as a means of classification. Tags are usually chosen informally by the author of the item, not as part of a formally defined classification scheme. They are also typically used in dynamic, flexible, automatically generated taxonomies for online resources such as computer files, web pages, digital images and bookmarks. For this reason, tagging has become associated with the Web 2.0 movement. 3G: The Third Generation mobile network infrastructure. As of 2007, it s being deployed (or has already deployed) by mobile operators in most of Europe, East Asia and North America. 3G supports much higher data speeds than previous mobile networks, in some cases approaching wired broadband connections. 27
How NOT to use: This phone is cool and all, but I don t think it s worth 3G.
U Unique User: An individual or browser that has either accessed a site or has been served unique content and/or ads, such as e-mail, newsletters, interstitials and pop-under ads. Unique users can be identified by user registration or cookies. Unique Visitor: A specific user who accesses a web site within a specific time period. V Video Game Console: An interactive, entertainment computer or electric device that uses a television or monitor to display a game. The term is typically used for consoles that only play video games, but the new generation may play various types of media such as music, TV shows and movies. Viral Marketing: Any advertising that propagates itself. Viral marketing spreads by getting passed on from consumer to consumer and market to market. 29
Viral Video: Online video clips (often short and humorous) that are passed via links from one person to another. Virtual Worlds: Three-dimensional computerized environments that multiple users can explore and interact with via avatars. The term is often used to define services that are open-ended and geared for socializing, as opposed to the more goal-oriented environments of online games. Vlog: A video-based blog. Entries are made regularly and often combine embedded with supporting text, images and other data. W WAP (Wireless Application Protocol): An open, international standard for application layer network communications in a wireless communication environment. Its main use is to enable access to the mobile web from a cell phone or PDA. A WAP browser provides all of the basic services of a computer-based web browser, but simplifies it to operate within the restrictions of a mobile phone, such as its smaller view screen. 30
Web 2.0: A supposed second generation of Internet-based services that let people collaborate and share information online in perceived new ways such as social networking sites, wikis and communication tools. Webcasting: Real-time or pre-recorded delivery on the Internet of a live event s audio, video or animation. Widget: A small application designed to reside on a PC desktop (Mac OS X or Windows Vista) or within a web-based portal (igoogle) or social networking site (e.g., MySpace or Facebook) that offers useful or entertaining functionality to the end user. Wiki: A type of web site that allows users to easily add, remove, or otherwise edit and change available content sometimes without the need for registration. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for collaborative authoring. 31
Appendix Online Resources: IAB.net -Ad Unit Guidelines Pointroll.com -Rich Media Ad Unit Examples Google.com\labs -The latest digital offerings from Google Eyewonder.com -Video Ad Unit Examples Online Newsletters to Subscribe to Emarketer.com -Daily free newsletter Marketingsherpa.com -Free blog ClickZ.com -Can select from daily, weekly or monthly newsletters AdRants.com -Great site to learn about the advertising of other brands 32